Philippine Asian News Today Vol 18 No 21 | Page 31

November 1 - 15, 2016

At least three potential foreign investors are having second
thoughts due to uncertainties on
government policy on contractualization.
Trade secretary Ramon
Lopez, a proponent of what he
calls as a “ win-win solution” that
gives security of tenure and full
benefits to workers of legitimate
service providers, challenged
the Philippine Association of
Legitimate Service Contractors
(PALSCON) to police its ranks to
ensure the effective implementation of this “win-win structure.”
Lopez said removing

PHILIPPINE ASIAN NEWS TODAY

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Second thoughts due to ‘endo’ rule

contracting and subcontracting arrangements will lead to an
immediate reduction of employment, with some foreign investments pulling out.
He said at least three potential foreign investors in the
Philippines began expressing
this sentiment in his most recent
meeting in Japan this month. He
did not identify the companies.
“Changing the ball game
now, we will lose investments
and miss out on opportunities instead of generating more jobs,”
Lopez said, pointing out the vital
link between investment creation

and job generation.
Speaking at PALSCON’s
6th National Forum on Monday,
Lopez reiterated that the win-win
structure that upholds workers’
security of tenure is not a departure from, but an improvement
of, what is already provided in the
law on legitimate contracting.
The Labor Code and the
Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) department
orders 10 (Series of 1997), 18-02
(Series of 2002) and 18-A (Series
of 2011) guarantee legitimate
contracting or subcontracting
arrangements.

As President Rodrigo
Duterte is resolute to stop the
end-of-contract schemes, Lopez
maintained that as added value
to the full and strict implementation of legitimate contracting,
the win-win structure carries two
specific provisions that safeguard
workers’ tenure rights – making
workers regular and permanent
as well as affording them mandatory retirement benefits.
Thisstructure proposed by
the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) also allows companies to either directly employ or
source workers from legitimate

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service providers.
Lopez said the critical role
of the association of legitimate
service providers in effectively
carrying out the win-win structure is to patrol its ranks to ensure that workers receive appropriate benefits.
“What is critical now is the
compliance of legitimate service
providers in giving full benefits to
the workers,” said Lopez, adding
the proposal received positive response from President Duterte.
(I. Isip, Malaya)